Do you carry enough automotive liability insurance?

September 17, 2018, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

The portion of your car insurance premium that covers automotive liability covers you if you are sued for injuries caused in a car crash. Your insurance company uses those funds to appoint a lawyer who defends you, and they then pay out any damages awarded up to the limit you carry. Most drivers in Ontario carry the minimum amount of lability insurance on the automotive policy required by law. That is $1 million.

This really is contrary to what I, and the Ontario Trial Association Lawyers recommend. Everyone should carry $2 million in liability limits. I strongly recommend that everyone speak with their insurer or broker about increasing their liability coverage to the $2 million amount. The reasons are straightforward. If you are sued the more coverage you have the better, it is for you. Insurance is meant to protect you, and with the claim amounts being awarded ever increasing the protection is worth the nominal increase in premiums that you’ll be charged.

If you carry $2 million in liability insurance, it also means that you carry $2 million in ‘underinsured’ coverage. Underinsured coverage protects you in the event you are injured in a car crash by someone driving with less coverage than you. To use an example from the OTLA website

If you are seriously hurt in an accident caused by a driver with $1M in liability coverage and you only have $1M in Underinsured Coverage, then you can only collect up to $1M (from the at-fault driver’s insurer) in damages to pay for your losses (income loss, pain and suffering, future treatment, etc.). 

But, in the same situation, if you have $2M in Underinsured Coverage, you can collect $1M from the at-fault driver’s insurer and then another $1M from your own insurer through the Underinsured Coverage.

This is good news if you are seriously injured and cannot work for an extended period of time, or if you need significant long-term care or treatment. The government has made serious cuts to accident benefits and maximum coverage amounts in the last few years and people with serious injuries are finding that they don’t have adequate coverage to meet the expenses of care over the 10 to 20 year time frame.

Please take a minute to review your auto insurance coverage and to look at what your liability coverage is.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

It is important that you review your accident benefit file with one of our experienced personal injury / car accident lawyers to ensure that you obtain access to all your benefits which include, but are limited to, things like physiotherapy, income replacement benefits, vocational retraining and home modifications.